A spokeswoman for Brig. Gen. Kenneth "Ed" Brandt insists her client did not break any rules when he announced his candidacy for Delaware's lone congressional seat last week.

"He checked all the boxes he needed to check before making a general statement about his candidacy," spokeswoman Tori Parker said Wednesday. "He did everything he was supposed to."

Parker was responding to questions about whether Brandt, a Brandywine Hundred Republican, might have run afoul of U.S. Department of Defense directive 1344.10, a federal policy that bars active-duty military personnel from engaging in partisan political speech.

It also forbids members of the Army National Guard from seeking partisan-elected office if they are on active-duty orders that extend beyond 270 days – unless they have received permission from U.S. secretary of the Army.

Brandt is the senior Army National Guard chaplain and U.S. Army deputy chief of chaplains for the National Guard. In that role, he is responsible for providing pastoral care to nearly 350,000 soldiers and supporting the work of nearly 700 National Guard chaplains.

He also is on full-time, active duty – a designation different from typical reservists who report for monthly weekend drills and annual training sessions.

The News Journal published an article Wednesday examining whether Brandt's campaign announcement might have violated the federal policy when he announced his plans to challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del. during a Kent County Republican dinner on Friday.

That announcement was followed Saturday by a press release sent to various media outlets.

Yet Brandt and his campaign staff did not respond to numerous requests for comment earlier this week, including an emailed list of questions about the brigadier general's active-duty status.

The campaign finally responded Wednesday afternoon by releasing a statement that says Brandt can run for office because his orders are for less than 270 days.

A spokesman for the National Guard Bureau later confirmed via email that Brandt's orders do not exceed 270 days.

But the question of whether he violated the federal policy for appearing at the Republican dinner is unresolved, bureau spokesman Kurt Rauschenberg said Wednesday.

"The National Guard Bureau has not determined if a violation occurred," he wrote in an email. "The appropriate NGB officials were unaware that Chaplain Brandt planned to attend or speak at the dinner."

That conflicts with Parker's claims that Brandt received "a guidance" from the Office of the National Guard's Judge Advocate General that authorized him to speak at the event.

When pressed, Parker said she was uncertain when that guidance was issued. She also was unable to provide any documentation to back up her assertion.

"I don't know who he got the permission from," she said. "But he sat down with the folks he needed to sit down with."

Brandt, meanwhile, is out of town on "special duty" for the National Guard this week and unavailable for interviews, according to Parker.

The brigadier general has not spoken to the media since announcing his campaign. He also has not created a committee to raise campaign contributions or filed to have his name placed on the ballot in Delaware, according to federal and state records.

That will all change next week, Parker said.

"He has expedited his active-duty status and will no longer be on active duty by Monday," she said. "At that time he will be available to fully undertake all the efforts of a campaign for Congress."